Board of Directors

50+ years advocating for our region

Board of Directors

Experienced, passionate leaders protecting the Greater Hells Canyon Region

Greater Hells Canyon Council has a dedicated, volunteer, Board of Directors who govern, inspire and work to promote the Greater Hells Canyon Region.

Officers

Emily Klavins

Board of Directors, President

Emily and her husband Rob own and operate Barking Mad Farm Bed & Breakfast, a working farm in rural Wallowa County. A native Oregonian, Emily grew up exploring many of her state's natural wonders. With degrees in Environmental and Political Science, she taught outdoor education and was the program coordinator for an environmental nonprofit in Portland before making her home in Eastern Oregon.

Robin Coen

Board of Directors, Secretary

Robin grew up on a cattle ranch in the Elkhorn Mountains, and graduated from University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science in Forest Engineering. She now lives with her family in Boise, ID. She operates a vacation rental business at her Elkhorn Mountain ranch property, and continues to foster her deep love for the environment through conservation work, watercolor painting, and gardening.

Charles Jones

Board of Directors, Vice President

Charlie is a retired local high school teacher and Navy commander with a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from College of Idaho. He grew up in Ontario, OR (where his grandpa speared salmon in the Malheur River,) and has hiked, biked, or skied all over N.E. Oregon. He lives in La Grande, OR.

Board of Directors

Brock Evans

Board of Directors

Brock played an instrumental role in convincing the Supreme Court to reject the plan to dam Hells Canyon. A prolific writer and public speaker, he has received numerous awards for his work, including Lifetime Achievement Awards from the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Council of America, the John Muir Award, and the Sierra Club’s highest honor.

Jim Kennedy

Board of Directors

Jim is a retired business lawyer from Portland. He spends much of his time on his ranch in the Blue Mountains (Ritter, Oregon) where he pursues his passion for the outdoors, wildlife, forests and land stewardship. Jim received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Michigan.

David Johns

Board of Directors

David Johns is Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Portland State University, Portland OR, and co-founded the Wildlands Network and Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative. He specializes in place-based ecosystem conservation on a continental scale, and received the 2007 Denver Zoological Foundation Conservation Award for his work.

Marina Richie

Board of Directors

Marina Richie is a freelance nature writer. She holds an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Oregon, and a master’s degree in journalism at University of Montana, where she wrote an investigative thesis on environmental issues in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. She lives in Bend.

Advisory Board

Catherine Dickson

Catherine is an archaeologist for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and a vegetable gardener with a lot of garlic. She enjoys hiking, rafting, and improving conditions for wildlife on her Grande Ronde Valley property. She has a B.A. from Pomona College and an M.A. in Anthropology from Oregon State University.

Al Josephy

Al was fortunate to have parents who developed a life-long love for the Inland Empire and especially Wallowa County. His wife Melissa and he have five kids, five grandkids, two yorkies, nine chickens, and ambitions to help conserve all those things that have made their lives so full into the future.

Pete Sandrock

Pete is a an experienced backpacker, former Benton County District Attorney, former Chief Operating Officer of the Metro regional government, advisor to the Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment, and a retired Navy Captain. He lives in Portland, OR.

Mike Higgins

Mike is a local landowner in Halfway, Oregon. He played a key role in the reformation of HCPC in the late 80’s. As a former high school and junior high school science teacher, Mike has continued to marvel at the wonders of the natural world, especially those waiting to be discovered in the deserts and mountains of northeast Oregon.

Becky Strickler

Advisory Board of Directors

Becky is a landscape architect living in Portland, OR, born and raised in La Grande, OR. She spent her growing-up years floating the Minam and Grande Ronde rivers, backpacking in the Eagle Cap Wilderness, camping in the Imnaha Canyon, and exploring the Blue Mountains in NE Oregon. She has a BLA from the University of Oregon.

Rob Klavins

Advisory Board of Directors

Rob Klavins works on forest and wildlife issues as a Field Coordinator with the conservation organization Oregon Wild. Rob grew up and earned a biology degree in the Midwest before coming to Oregon to teach outdoor education in 2006. He and his wife own a bed & breakfast and working farm in rural Wallowa County.

David Mildrexler

Advisory Board of Directors

David is a terrestrial ecosystem scientist holding a PhD from Oregon State University’s College of Forestry. He researches the ecological applications of remote sensing data, natural disturbance ecology, vegetation-climate interactions, biodiversity and landscape connectivity, and the management and conservation of eastside forested ecosystems and wildlands.